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Wednesday, September 28, 2022

Spartacus


This is Spartacus in the Tuileries Garden by Charles Negre, 19th C.

 

5 comments:

  1. "Je suis Spartacus!" "Je suis Spartacus!" "Je suis Spartacus!" "Je suis Spartacus!" "Je suis Spartacus!"

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  2. Spartacus was circumcised? Or, since King Louis was, he had his art altered?

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    1. From the look of the sculpture it had been vandalized and the penis smashed and rebuilt from pieces and concrete. It's quite the botch job. You can zoom into the large version on the Getty museum site to see. The statue was removed in 1877 and I can't find any further information on it (possibly it was destroyed or sold to a private collection?).

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    2. Good news, I found it! Happily the statue now resides at the Louvre and has been fully restored. :-)

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    3. Spartacus was a Thracian and the Thracians were not a circumcising people. It is in fact not the case that Louis XVI was circumcised for a phimosis. His doctor's reports are extant in which he writes that there was no "physical obstacle" to explain his inability to consummate his marriage. Incidentally, it was the Spanish royal house that did in fact practise circumcision but only for the heir to the throne.

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